


Viva España

by SugdenLovesDingle



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Domestic Bliss, Family Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-28
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-10-24 20:27:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10749204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SugdenLovesDingle/pseuds/SugdenLovesDingle
Summary: Robert helps Liv with her homework which results in a family holiday to Spain and a look into Robert's life there after Jack sent him away.





	1. Chapter 1

“I hate this school.” Liv complained as she dumped her school bag on the table in front of her brother.

“Should’ve actually gone to your old one then. So they wouldn’t have kicked you out and we wouldn’t have had to beg this place to take you on in the middle of term.” Aaron replied, moving Liv’s bag away from his sandwich.

Liv rolled her eyes and sat down.

“They’re making me take a second foreign language.”

Aaron shrugged.

“What’s so bad about that? It’s good to speak more than one language.”

“They’re already making me take French.” Liv said as if that explained everything.

“So?”

“So? So there’s no more room in my head for another language! French is killing me with all these dashes and things.”

“It’s not that bad. I’ll help you.” Aaron offered and Liv scoffed.

“What? I lived there.”

“I know. But I’ve heard you speak French. It’s worse than mine.”

“People always understood me over there, you know.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

“Whatever.” Aaron said and shook his head at his sister. “So what other language are they torturing you with?”

“Well I had to choose between German and Spanish.”

“Yeah? What did you pick?”

“Spanish. Biggest mistake of my life.” 

Aaron bit back a laugh at his sister’s dramatics.

“Really now? What’s so bad about Spanish then?”

“I don’t know.” Liv shrugged. “I’m just not a language person.”

“I suppose you’re going to have to be one from now on.”

Liv groaned and opened her bag.

“You know the worst thing is, next year there’s this trip to Spain for students. But you can only go if you do well this year. You’re not allowed to fail more than 3 tests the entire year. And I started late so I can only fail one or I don’t get to go.”

“Better get studying then.” Aaron said and glanced at the worksheet she'd pulled out of her bag.

“Don’t suppose you speak Spanish as well as French do you?”

“I can order a beer…” Aaron offered. “But that’s about it.”

Liv sighed in defeat.

“Oh well. I guess I’ll get to Spain on my own someday. Madrid will still be there after this torture is over.”

“I don’t speak Spanish, but Robert does.” Aaron told his sister.

“He does?”

“Yeah he lived in Spain for a while. And I think his grandmother still lives there.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Ask him about it when he gets home. He’ll help you I’m sure.”

“I’m texting him now. Where is he today? The yard? Leeds? Hotten?”

“I’m home.” Robert called out, walking into the house at that exact moment.

Liv jumped up and all but ran up to him.

“Rob! I need your help.”

“Why? What did you do this time?”

“Nothing! I need help with my homework. Spanish.”

Robert frowned as he shrugged off his coat.

“Since when do you take Spanish?”

“Since you got me into this stupid school that’s forcing me to take two foreign languages.”

“Yeah you’re welcome for that by the way.” Robert said and walked past her into the living room to find his husband.

“Hey.” He leaned down and kissed Aaron hello. “I missed you today.”

Aaron smiled into the kiss.

“How did your meeting go?”

“Smoothly.” Robert said and sat down next to him. “Got everything signed but I stopped by Pete’s on the way home. I promised him I’d take a look at the books for the taxi company. It’s a disaster. I offered him a job as a driver for Home James.”

“Rob!” Liv yelled. “I need your help. Aaron said you speak Spanish and I’m desperate.”

“Stop winding her up.” Aaron said and gently poked him in the ribs.

“Alright, alright.” Robert said laughingly. “Show me what the problem is.”

Liv grabbed her books and sat down in between him and Aaron, claiming she needed his undivided attention.

“It’s this grammar stuff and some vocab and I need to somehow learn how to pronounce it all too for my oral exam next month.”

Robert looked over the assignments.

“This isn’t so hard. And you’re doing pretty well with the grammar as far as I can tell.”

“I need to pass. There’s a trip to Madrid next year if I pass.”

“Barcelona is better.” Robert commented before getting down to business.

They worked together for a while until Liv got fed up and decided to interrogate her brother in law instead of dealing with her homework.

“When did you live in Spain?”

“A long time ago.”

“Before or after you met Aaron?”

“Before. Way before.”

“And before Chrissie?”

“Yes. Before Chrissie too. Chrissie wouldn’t have given me a second glance if she’d met me back then. Neither would you.” He said, directing the last part at Aaron.

“Why’s that?” Liv asked.

“When my dad… sent me away… I ended up in Spain with my grandmother. I stayed with her as a kid and I enjoyed it… and I wanted to get as far away from here as possible.”

“So you lived with her?”

Robert shook his head.

“Only for a little while.”

“How long were you out there for?” Aaron asked. Robert had told him bits and pieces about his life away from Emmerdale in passing, but never actually sat down and talked about it.

“About 3 years in total. I stayed with my gran for a few months, then ended up in Madrid with some people that I met on the road. I thought they were backpackers and I was crushing on one of the guys.”

“Was he your boyfriend?” Liv asked.

“No. No way. I never told him I liked him. I barely let myself think about him like that.”

“Is that why you didn’t stay with them?” Aaron asked.

“That too. They were junkies. Tried to get me to use too. Tried to get me to sell for their suppliers. We had to run from the police one night and I just never went back to the flat. That’s when I ended up in Barcelona.”

“So you’re wanted by Spanish police?” Liv asked excitedly.

“No, I never did anything. And I was never arrested.” Robert told her. “Sorry to disappoint.”

“What did you do in Barcelona then?”

“Nothing illegal… much. I worked in a few bars and restaurants. Serving drinks and cleaning tables at first. Charming the owner of this one restaurant so she let me live in the flat above the restaurant and work as a chef in the kitchen. That was a pretty good time.”

“So what happened? Why did you come back here?”

“I got bored. And the girl I was seeing found out she wasn’t the only one… and none of them were too happy about that. So I just left. Got into my car and went back to England. Lived in London for a while where I eventually met Lawrence and Chrissie.” Robert told them.

Aaron had a feeling there was more to the story but didn’t want to pressure Robert into telling him things he wasn’t ready to.

“Have you ever been back there?” Liv asked.

“No… never got round to it.”

“That trip to Barcelona you booked…” Aaron trailed off.

“I wanted to show you the city.” Robert admitted. “I had a good time there, I wanted to share that with you.”

“Wait. When did you two go to Barcelona?”

“We didn’t. We planned a trip there when you came to live with us.”

“You cancelled your holiday because of me?”

“Sort of.”

“But don’t feel bad about that.” Robert added quickly. “It was our own choice to cancel. It’s not your fault.”

“We should go there. Just the three of us.” Liv suggested and grabbed her laptop, pulling up a flights website. “Family holiday.”

Robert gently closed her laptop and put it back on the table.

“You’re not missing school to go on holiday with us.”

“We can go when you’re on break next.” Aaron suggested and turned to his husband. “You can show us where you lived.”

“Unless you can’t go back there because your ex-girlfriend hates your guts and wants to kill you.” Liv said and Robert laughed.

“I’m sure she’s moved on by now. We’ll be alright.”

“So we’ll go?”

“Yeah I think we can sort something out.” Robert said and Liv jumped up and hugged him.

“It’s going to be epic. I’m going to tell Gabby and do some research on where we want to go.” She said and grabbed her computer and ran up the stairs to her room.  

“You better do some revising too!” Robert called out after her.

“So mister Dingle.” Aaron started as he moved closer to Robert. “Looks like we’ll get that holiday in Spain after all.”

Robert smiled and kissed him.

“I can’t wait mister Sugden.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> roblivion go on a family holiday to Spain where Robert tells them about his life there.

“So when are you going to show us the city then?” Liv asked Robert.

It was day 4 of their two week trip to Barcelona and they were in the middle of breakfast at their hotel.

“What do you think we’ve been doing the past few days?”

“Only the touristy stuff… like that church and the beach.”

“The Sagrada Familia is not just a church. It’s famous. And I thought you liked it?”

 “I did. Would’ve been better if we’d done one of those guided tour things though.”

“Those are tourist traps. All they’ve done is memorise travel guides in a few different languages.”

Liv rolled her eyes.

“We are tourists aren’t we? And I don’t want to spend the entire trip on the beach.”

“Are you seriously complaining about a beach holiday?” Aaron interrupted.

“It’s a bit boring isn’t it? And he promised us he’d show us where he lived and stuff.”

“You seemed to be getting on pretty well with that lad on the beach yesterday.” Robert said, trying to steer the topic of conversation away from his past. Even if that meant talking about the lad that had been shamelessly flirting with Liv the entire time they spent at the beach. It had taken every ounce of his and Aaron’s self-control not to throttle him.

“Emilio? He’s nice…”

“Just nice huh?”

Liv blushed.

“Yes. Just nice.”

“You got a holiday romance going on already, Liv?” Robert teased. “We’ve only been here four days.”

“Shut up. Nothing happened. And don’t change the subject.”

“We don’t have to do anything.” Aaron said, picking up on his husband’s reluctance to delve into his life in Spain. “We can just hang out on the beach and relax for two weeks. After the year we’ve had, we could all do with some peace and quiet.”

“What? No, Aaron don’t give him a way out.” Liv said before turning to Robert. “You promised. And I swear I won’t make fun of you if we run into your ex-girlfriend or something.”

Robert gave her a grin.

“Like you could stop yourself.”

“I’ll try, ok? So we’ll go?”

“Liv don’t push him.” Aaron warned.

“It’s ok. It’s just…” Robert started, looking back and forth between Aaron and Liv. “It’s weird being here. With you two. My life is so different now than from anything I ever thought it would be when I lived here.”

“Is that why you don’t want to go into the city?” Aaron asked and Robert shrugged.

“It’s… I don’t know… I wasn’t the nicest person back then. To some people. Others were almost like family and I just left and I haven’t really been in touch since.”

“So you’re afraid they’ll be angry? Won’t be happy to see you? Or see that you’re married to me?”

“I’m not ashamed of you or of our marriage.” Robert said quickly, grabbing Aaron’s hand across the table. “It’s just… well... it’s a side of me they never knew. I guess it’s like I’d be coming out to them… if we even meet anyone… and I’m a little nervous about that.” He confessed.

“If anyone gets nasty we’ll just leave.” Liv said simply. “We’ll come back here and spend the rest of our holiday on the beach.”

Robert smiled.

“You’re right. I’m overthinking things.” He checked his watch. “Let’s go back upstairs to shower and stuff and we’ll meet down at reception in an hour.”

***

“I used to work here. When I first came to the city. I met a girl in a bar and she helped me get a job here.” Robert said, nodding at a building across the street.

They’d been walking around the city for a few hours, Robert showing them places he used to work and hang around often. He hadn’t seemed very sure what to do or say at first but gradually became more relaxed and started to open up more about those years of his life.

“A flower shop?” Liv asked.

“It was a club back then. And bigger. That café next door was part of it too.” Robert explained. “I’d hand out flyers to tourists all afternoon and convince them to come to the club in the evening. They’d get a free drink with the flyer.”

“Flirting with tourists for money then.”

Robert shrugged.

“Basically. I wasn’t very good at it at first though.”

Aaron raised an eyebrow at that.

“I wasn’t! I had no idea what to say to people. I just handed out those flyers and that was it. I got better over time but by the time I’d figured it out the place got closed down. Something to do with laundering money through the club.”

“So you were working for criminals?” Liv asked, sensing an interesting story.

“Yeah but it wasn’t what you think. I didn’t know. The police questioned me once, realised I knew nothing and was just some ignorant English kid and left it at that.” Robert told her and laughed at the look of disappointment on her face. “I know you think I was some criminal mastermind but I was only a few years older than you when I ended up here, you know. I was just a kid.”

Liv rolled her eyes at the comment but decided to ignore it in favour of trying to get Robert to tell more about his life in Spain.

“What about that girl that got you a job here? Was she your girlfriend?”

“No.” Robert shook his head. “I wanted her to be but she wasn’t interested. She took pity on me though and let me sleep on her sofa for a few months. Until she moved away to work in Malaga.”

“Where did you go after that?” Aaron asked.

“I lived in my car for a while. Hung around the beach most of the day. Slept there sometimes near the big hotels. I got a job at that hotel we went to earlier, the big white one, as a valet and bellboy, and became friends with some of the guys working the night shifts eventually. One of them, Sergio, introduced me to his aunt Maria who hired me as a dishwasher in her restaurant.”

“So that’s why you insisted on buying a dishwasher for the house when we moved in.” Aaron said laughingly. “Bad memories.”

“We have a massive kitchen! It would’ve been a waste of space not to get a dishwasher.”

“I think it’s the best decision you made about the house.” Liv cut in.

“That’s because you don’t want to do the washing up after tea.” Aaron teased.

Liv shrugged.

“Neither do you.”

Aaron laughed.

“Fair enough. And speaking of food and kitchens, I could do with something to eat.”

“I think I saw a McDonald’s a few streets back.” Liv commented and Robert made a sound as if he’d been physically hurt.

“What?”

“We’re in Barcelona. We’re not going to McDonald’s. We can do that at home.”

“Do you have a better idea then?”

“I might… Remember when I told you I used to work in a restaurant as a chef?” Robert asked and Liv nodded. “I’m not sure if it still exists… but if it does and it’s still owned by the same people… it might be nice to grab a bite to eat there.”

They took the metro to a less touristy part of town and Aaron could tell Robert was more nervous than he wanted him and Liv to know. His sweaty palms had nothing to do with the warm weather. Aaron gave his husband’s hand a squeeze to show him he was there for him, which earned him a small smile in return.

“This is it.” Robert said when they stopped in front of a fairly busy restaurant. “I used to live up there. With the balcony. That was my bedroom.”

“Looks like a nice place.” Aaron said, looking around.

“It was. There was a balcony on the backside of the building too… with the balconies from the building on the other side of the street almost close enough to touch. That’s how I met Ana, the girl I went out with for a while. Until she dumped me for Sergio and I went after her friend Laura… and her sister Lucia.”

Aaron laughed and shook his head.

“What? I was 20, on my own in a strange city, these girls liked blond boys with freckles… I just wanted to have some fun. That’s not so bad is it?”

“No ‘course not. I wasn’t having a go. I’m sorry.” Aaron said and kissed him. “Want to go in? See if they remember you?”

As soon as they entered the restaurant they were greeted by a boy of about Liv’s age, maybe a little older.

“Table for three?” The boy asked, looking at Robert like he was trying to figure out where he knew him from. Robert did the same.

“Uh yes thanks…” Robert replied and the three of them followed the boy to a table. “Does Maria still work here?” He asked after they sat down and accepted the menus the boy handed them.

“Yes, she is in the kitchen.” The boy told them.

“Could you maybe tell her Robert is here? Ask her if she has time to come say hi?”

“You’re Robert from England!” The boy said happily as if Robert had just solved one of life’s greater mysteries. “I’m Alessandro. Cristina is my mother. I remember you!”

“Alessandro! I knew you looked familiar. Does your mum still work here too?”

Alessandro nodded and switched to rapid Spanish Aaron had no hope of understanding even though he had started learning the language with Liv. Robert however seemed to have no problems understanding the boy as he laughed and replied in the same rapid Spanish.

“Do you understand that?” Aaron asked Liv softly.

“Not really… it’s too fast.”

From the gestures and few words he understood, Aaron figured out Robert knew the kid from when he was just about the height of the table and they used to play football together. He picked up the words family and holiday and figured Robert told the boy they were on a family holiday.

“I’ll go get Maria.” Alessandro said, suddenly switching back to English before disappearing through a set of double doors in the back of the restaurant.

“You know him then?” Aaron asked.

“Yeah he was this little brat that hung around the restaurant after school while his mum worked. I used to hang out with him. Taught him some English swear words.” Robert said laughingly. “His mum wasn’t too happy with that.”

“Did you date his mum too?” Liv wondered.

“No, no way. She was always lovely though but no. I’m pretty sure she never looked at me like that. She was more of a sister. An older sister who’d give me a good kicking whenever I did something stupid.”

“Which was all the time then.” Liv joked and the three of them laughed.

“Robert?” A woman in her late fifties said as she walked over to their table, Alessandro grinning behind her.

Robert looked up and smiled and stood up to hug her.

“Hola Maria. Long time no see.”

 She slapped his arm and said something that sounded a lot like an insult but hugged him back.

“It’s good to see you again. It’s been too long. But you should have let me know you were coming.” She said and poked him in the stomach for emphasis.

Robert laughed.

“Sorry. We only just decided half an hour ago.”

Maria narrowed her eyes at him.

“When did you arrive in the city?”

“Four days ago.” Robert admitted. “But I’m here now. That’s what matters, right?” He flashed a smile at her, the kind that never failed to make Aaron’s insides turn to mush and make him forgive him almost everything. It seemed to have the same effect on Maria.

“Ok, ok you’re right. But I am still a little angry that I haven’t seen you in so long.” Maria told him. “Do you live in England again?”

“Yeah back in Emmerdale. The village where I was born.”

Maria nodded.

“I remember you talking about it. And your father and your brother?”

“My father died… but me and my brother are ok now. I promise.” Robert assured her. “And anyway I don’t want to talk about that now. I’m on holiday with my family, I want to enjoy myself.”

Maria looked at Liv and Aaron as if she’d only just noticed them.

 _“Hola_ , ¿ _cómo estás_?” Liv said politely.

“She’s learning Spanish. That’s why we’re here. So she can improve her Spanish and become top of her class.” Robert explained, not being able to hide his proud smile.”

“Are you… his daughter?”

“Maria she’s 15! I’m not that old. She’s my sister.”

“Oh you are Victoria? I thought you were older.”

“No I’m Olivia.”

“She goes by Liv mostly. She’s my sister in law actually… I’m married to her brother.” Robert told Maria and Aaron noticed he was bracing himself for a possible backlash.

“That would be me.” Aaron said and got up and extended his hand to Maria. “I’m Aaron.”

Maria looked back and forth between the two men for a moment, the expression on her face a mix between confusion and shock.

“Oh... uh... hello…” She said and shook Aaron’s hand.

“Felicitaciones.” Alessandro said quickly when he realised Maria wasn’t going to say anything. “Congratulations. When did you get married?”

“February. Best day of my life.” Aaron said with a smile. “I have some pictures on my phone if you want to see?”

Alessandro nodded and moved to stand beside Aaron to look at his phone, both of them trying to ignore the lack of response from Maria or the sad look on Robert’s face.

“Aren’t you happy for me Maria?” Robert asked and Aaron’s heart broke over how small he sounded. “After all this time I’m finally happy and you can’t even look at me. I never thought you would be the narrow minded type. Coming here was a mistake. We’ll go back to the hotel and eat there.” He said and started walking to the door, ignoring both Liv and Aaron calling his name.


End file.
